


Unexpected

by whitewolfbumble



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday, Cute Ending, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Mission Related, New Year's Eve, Sarcasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 22:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17817011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitewolfbumble/pseuds/whitewolfbumble
Summary: On the eve of your birthday, Bucky loses the person under his protection detail and you both have to hit the road to go find them.





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bunsterjonez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunsterjonez/gifts).



“Hey…”

…

“Psst, Y/N…”

Wrapped up in thick blankets and the cover of darkness, sleep fell away from you as a familiar voice brought you up back to the surface of reality. You stayed still and quiet and hoped for the love of everything you held dear it wasn’t who you thought it was…

“Hey Y/N…” insisted the low, gravely voice not more than a foot away from your face.

 _Goddamn it Bucky_.

“So help me, Barnes,” you muttered, raising your head up from the pillow to look accusatory bleary eyes at him. He was wide awake and just as handsome as ever, quite unlike the state he found you in. “Just tell me; why do you hate me?”

Your friend pulled a face, bright blue eyes confused, and opened his mouth to counter that remark but you cut him off first.

“Because if you liked me you wouldn’t dare wake me up at…” You reached out and checked your phone, stomach dropping a little. “Oh god, it’s not even _midnight_ yet!”

You must have just fallen asleep, exhausted from the day’s work and training, only to have Bucky sneak into your room like this. He better have a good reason because a sleepy, grumpy Y/N was not something to take on lightly and he knew it.

“Someone better be _dying_ or I swear t-“

“Yeah yeah, death threats and swears and all that, I get it,” he said with half an eye roll and a vague gesture. You huffed out at him, adding fuel to the growing fire inside you. _Stop poking this bear, Barnes,_ you thought to yourself. “But I do have a good reason to be here. I need your help, Y/N.”

You sighed, sitting up from your unbelievably comfy bed and rubbed your eyes. You turned looking at the man dully, waiting for the explanation. You’d at least wait to hear that before trying to snap his neck.

“I lost them,” he said once he had your attention in full, like that explained anything.

He remained crouched beside your bed unmoving and looking at you with those serious, deep eyes you had gotten lost in on more than one occasion. Not tonight though.

“Your balls or your last remaining brain cells?” you scoffed.

“Goddammit, Y/N,” He grabbed your arm and pulled you awkwardly to your feet with a loud groan from you. “Neither of those, thanks very much. I lost… a person.”

Well, that sure snapped you awake.

Wide eyes you looked at him in silence for a second, ignoring the tiredness that clung to you as you stood half held up by Bucky still. The next second was filled with a flurry of movement as you pulled on a sweater and looked around for your shoes in the darkness.

“Don’t tell me-“ you started, groping in the near pitch black for something to pull onto your feet.

“She’s more wily than she looks!” he said, trying to justify himself.

 _Yeah, right_.

You pulled on your shoes and grabbed your bag, already bee-lining for the door that would take you out of your blissfully dark bedroom and into a chilly December night.

“Oh god, let’s go and find her before Steve, her father, or her father’s entire army draws and quarters you.”

* * *

 

Bucky’s latest mission was a relatively straightforward one.

For the last few days he had been looking after an ambassador’s daughter while her father was in peace talks here in New York. No one better than the former Winter Soldier to offer protection against possible assassins, threats, and those looking to stop the brokering of peace. All in all pretty routine for someone as diligent and experienced as Bucky.

You didn’t think the _girl_ would be the problem, though. She was, all things considered, a semi-responsible adult with no history of dashing out from protective details in the middle of the night for god knows whatever reason.

Apparently Bucky didn’t think she’d be much of a problem either.

“Where was she last?” you asked as he raced silently down black roads in a sleek car.

Dark limbs of dark trees shadowed the edge of the roads, tall walls of endless green and black. Deep inside they could hide anything or anyone looking to remain hidden. The only reprieve from the darkness was the wind-swept snow, weaving and whipping around trees, masking shadows and tricking your eyes with visions of a woman standing alone out there in the night.

“In bed,” he said, brows furrowed and steel blue eyes on the road ahead, trained to weave himself through roads like this on snowy dark night such as these. “Asleep.”

“Well, that’s helpful,” you said in an obvious tone.

“Listen, I woke you up to help me here,” he reminded you with a bit of a bitter smirk. “Less sarcasm and more help, hmm?”

“Fine fine,” you sighed, putting to rest the dreams getting away from chilly nights and into a warm bed in the near future. “Okay, where do you think she’s heading at least?”

“Security cameras caught her heading to the garage,” he started. “She flirted with valet on night duty. Sounded like she used some bullshit excuse about losing her copy of the keys and got the spare from him. From there she drove off and I lost eyes on her.”

_… What?!_

“Bucky! What the hell?!” you half-yelled in the small car. “How on earth did you let her get into a car and drive off?! You were supposed to be watching her and keeping her safe, weren’t you?!”

Bucky gave you a withering look and you just barely managed to catch yourself.

“… would be the question I would ask if I was a less supportive person,” you added unconvincingly.

“Remind me why I like you again?” he asked, sarcasm dripping from the words.

“Because someone has to bring muscles, brains, and a winning personality to this friendship, Barnes,” you teased, unable to hide your smile.

He made this too easy sometimes, and to be honest, you both loved it. The pair of you had enough seriousness in your lives before, so any chance for a smile- even in situations where Bucky had been an idiot, which, admittedly, were few and far between- was snatched up. Often times on missions or during training, but this was good too.

“Oh, ha ha,” he said dryly, a glance and smile thrown your way.

The fact was, since day one you were nothing but a support to him. You didn’t treat him damaged. You didn’t treat him like a time bomb. Didn’t treat him like he was any less capable or any less spectacular than he truly was. He wasn’t used to it at first, but at some point he got used to it. Even managed to like it, dishing it out as much as you could (cheeky smiles and all).

Because you treated him like a _friend_. Someone worthy of being here and being in your life. Worthy of support and love and trust. Honestly, it was exactly the kind of therapy he needed to get back to the person he had been.

So all things considered, you weren’t surprised he came to you tonight. Frankly, you wouldn’t have it any other way and he knew it. Maybe you would bite back a little sarcastically when he pulled you out of bed in the middle of the night, but you would have been properly angry the next morning when you found out he hadn’t.

If only your Bucky was far less careless when it came to protecting the only daughter of a country so close to peace- or conversely, to war- just days before the treaty negotiations. Of all people to lose, of course it would be _her_ and of course it would be _now_.

“But listen, I have an idea on where’d she go,” he said, getting back to the business at hand. “We’re just about there.”

“Okay, good,” you said, almost breathing a sigh of relief. “Club? Bar? Some sketchy apartment with a secret lover?”

“Not quite,” he said, pulling smoothly into a parking lot and nodding to the building dead ahead through the blowing flakes of snow.

You leaned forward, pulling on your seatbelt as you looked out to the little grey building, standing small and proud in the moonlight. You read the sign, somewhat blocked by thick, overrun vines, but you got the gist of this place fast.

“You’re not serious here…” you said, voice low and turning slowly with quite the unimpressed eyes to him.

He put the car in park and got out, waiting for you to do the same. But you didn’t, remaining unmoving in your seat.

“You’re not… You’re not serious here, Bucky,” you called out, looking at Bucky through the windshield. “Are you actually seeing this? Why _on earth_ would someone come here?”

“Come with me and I’ll fill you in,” was his only explanation, stepping closer to the glossy wood front door and leaving you behind.

Reluctantly you got out, grabbing a small handgun from your bag, before catching up to him as he was steps from entering.

He paused with his hand on the knob when he spotted the gun in your hand. “We’re not here to _shoot_ her, Y/N. Kinda the opposite actually, since the point is to get her back alive and generally unharmed.”

“Yeah okay, well when the zombies start coming to life in this place you’ll be _wishing_ you had a gun,” you said, nodding for him to open the door.

The corner of his mouth silently pulled up a little and he shook his head, retching the door open and breaking the lock with one swift motion. You half expected an alarm, but then who would want to break into _this_ place?

Pinned outside just above the door were the words “ _Matty Mausoleum’s Funeral Home_ ” with the rest obscured by vines, but the motto underneath was all to clear with “ _I’ll help you find your resting place!_ ”.

So here you were, walking into a funeral home just minutes before midnight… No way some young and vibrate person would come _here_ of all places so why the hell did Bucky bring you here?

Down the dark and eerily silent hall, you walked with your gun posed in front of you while Buck walked just behind. The only sounds were the soft and carefully placed footfalls from your shoes.

“This is _insane_ , Bucky,” you whispered back to him. “Why would she come here?”

“It’ll be easier to show you,” he said nodding to a room just on your left. You frowned but quietly turned the knob and with gun ready, took a slow and firmly placed step into the pitch black space.

Faster than you could react, Bucky wrapped one arm around your waist and pulled you back into him, your spine hitting his chest. His metal hand instantly snapped the gun right out of your hand, jerking it free from your grasp before you could think to protest.

A second later sudden and jarring white lights illuminated the whole room, briefly blinding you where you stood.

“What the-” you started.

“SURPRISE!” erupted a cacophony of voices all around you, boisterous shouts and yells following.

If Bucky wasn’t holding you up, you would have probably landed on your butt with a thud at the shock.

The dark space turned from silent and apparent emptiness instead to a bright and warm glow, filled with colourful streamers covering the ceiling and balloons covering every inch of floor space. But what was best was the sea of your best friends and teammates standing there, smiling and laughing at what you could only guess was the absurd look on your face.

Immediately the horde of happy Avenger faces were around you, hugging you and laughing all at once.

“That face was priceless!” said Tony, arms wrapping around you, the streams of people coming at you as Bucky stepped back and letting the crowd overrun you.

“Wait! Wait!” Steve shouted above the crowd, looking at his watch. “It’s midnight which means…”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” shouted everyone at once, Natasha holding you next with a quick peck on the cheek.

“Alright, time to get this party started!” said Clint as most everyone broke away and mingled now, laughing to themselves and patting each other on the back of a job well done on the surprise party. You watched as Thor and a few others recreated your shocked face (you assumed, the cheeky devils).

Steve smiled, wrapping an arm around you in a hug, giving your shoulder a squeeze.

“What… What did…” you said, turning and looking back from Bucky to Steve, still a little shocked.

“Your birthday is New Year’s Eve, so we wanted to make sure you actually had a birthday this year,” Bucky started to explain, blue eyes absolutely glowing in the warm light. “And with all the New Years plans and late parties we have that night, we never get to surprise you and don’t get to celebrate you like we should. Thought it was finally time to make a move, you know.”

You felt heat spreading across your face as your smile spread wide too. It was a far better feeling than cozing down into a warm bed, you had to admit.

“And this place was too good to pass up,” Steve said, pointing across the room where you now really saw what this place was. “Here, let me get you a drink.”

It was a large private room of a brewery, a bar on one side, large copper beer tanks on the end, and a slew of tables and chairs. The words- this time in their entirety- said “ _Matty Mausoleum’s Funeral Home for the Dead-Impaired and Drinkers of Fine Brew_ ” up above the bar where Steve was now ordering you a drink.

You almost groaned before stepping up to Bucky who began before you could.

“I picked it, I just wanted to see the look on your face as we walked in,” he said, absolutely beaming at this point. You didn’t think you had ever seen him smile so big before. You couldn’t help but do the same.

“And you said I wouldn’t need the gun, hmm?” you teased, poking him in the chest. “You seem to be banking a lot on me _not_ shooting you, Barnes.”

You grabbed the gun from his hand with a laugh, clicked the safety on, and shoved it in the waistband by the small of your back with exaggerated movements.

“I’ll get you back for this, Bucky,” you whispered, leaning into him with a mischievous smile, thoughts already racing.

Because tonight was New Years. And you thought it would be a bit of a shock if you kissed him for the first time at midnight… He wouldn’t be expecting that now, would he?

“Not if I get you again first,” he whispered confidently, leaning in closer to you too.

But by the look in his eyes and smile on his face, you wondered if he was thinking the exact same thing.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for @bunsterjonez, my dear friend and extraordinary writer, for her birthday!


End file.
